Arrows rise to the challenge at Silverstone
By Huw Alban
July 7 2002
OrangeArrows had a superb start to the British Grand Prix, with Enrique Bernoldi running strongly at the start and Heinz-Harald Frentzen making the most of the wet conditions when the rains fell. Techincal gremlins retired both men from the race after a gritty drive from the team.
July 7 2002
OrangeArrows had a superb start to the British Grand Prix, with Enrique Bernoldi running strongly at the start and Heinz-Harald Frentzen making the most of the wet conditions when the rains fell. Techincal gremlins retired both men from the race after a gritty drive from the team.
As usual the Arrows A23 in race trim performed better than in qualifying, with Heinz-Harald Frentzen recording the 11th fastest time. The mice had nibbled at the Arrows car overnight, with Frentzen suffering a minor technical niggle in the last few minutes of the 30 minute warm-up, and his car coasting to a halt just past the Copse corner. Enrique Bernoldi could only manage 20th fastest, with the team completing 20 laps in total.
Watching the TV coverage pre-race build up showed that it was starting to rain with about 15 minutes to go before the formation lap, although it was all dry when the lights went green. Rubens Barrichello stalled on the grid, but there were no such problems for the Arrows boys. The problems for the Ferrari demoted Rubens to the back of the grid for the start of the race.
Enrique made a cracking start to finish lap one in 12th position, from 20th on the grid. Heinz seemed to get bogged down for his start and fell back to 17th. During lap two spots of rain started to appear on the TV camera lenses, but the TV commentary indicated that it quickly stopped. Rubens Barrichello made it past Enrique on lap three, then Oliver Panis’ BAR, and Enrique could be seen to challenge Panis hard on the entry to the Hangar Straight. He must have made it past, too, because on lap four the Brazilian was placed 12th again – superb stuff ! Frentzen had also made progess, moving up to 16th.
Rain started again on lap seven, as Bernoldi progressed to tenth and Frentzen 14th ! What a race for the Arrows team !
On lap 12 Orange Arrows looked to be getting ready for a pit stop as the rain was falling a lot more heavily. By lap 14 both Arrrows had made a stop for intermediate tyres, promoting Heinz-Harald to ninth. Unfortunately Enrique had lost out and dropped to 13th. On lap 15 Enrique could be seen having a terrific scrap with a BAR and a Jordan and Heinz-Harald seemed to like the wet conditions better and had progressed to eighth.
On lap 18 Frentzen made it past Jenson Button’s Renault to progress to seventh. On the next lap Frentzen closed up dramatically on the back of a struggling Williams piloted by Ralf Schumacher, but then slowed dramatically at Bridge corner with smoke pouring out of the back of his A23. After a superb fight, aided by the superior Bridgestone tyres, Heinz-Harald Frentzen retired from the British Grand Prix with a blown Cosworth engine. The TV coverage showed the Arrows team mechanics all gathered around a monitor shaking their heads with disappointment – and I felt exactly the same :o(
Meanwhile Enrique Bernoldi had progressed to ninth, with a superb scrap between Panis and Coulthard behind him. On lap 24 the TV commentary indicated that the track was starting to dry out, prompting McLaren to stop both it’s drivers to swop to dry tyres. Two laps later Enrique Bernoldi did the same thing, the team gambling that the track would come to them, and he rejoined in 11th position. The team obviously decided that this was a bad idea, and brought Bernoldi in again, presumably for intermediate tyres once more. It all became academic around lap 31 as the TV coverage showed Enrique pulling off the circuit to coast to a halt.
This was a very sad end to a very difficult weekend for the team, especially as Frentzen had a superb chance of scoring points for the team, and as Bernoldi was running so strongly at the start of the race. This site really hopes that the money is found for the team to continue the season, because they deserves points on pure effort and the determination to continue.
Watching the TV coverage pre-race build up showed that it was starting to rain with about 15 minutes to go before the formation lap, although it was all dry when the lights went green. Rubens Barrichello stalled on the grid, but there were no such problems for the Arrows boys. The problems for the Ferrari demoted Rubens to the back of the grid for the start of the race.
Enrique made a cracking start to finish lap one in 12th position, from 20th on the grid. Heinz seemed to get bogged down for his start and fell back to 17th. During lap two spots of rain started to appear on the TV camera lenses, but the TV commentary indicated that it quickly stopped. Rubens Barrichello made it past Enrique on lap three, then Oliver Panis’ BAR, and Enrique could be seen to challenge Panis hard on the entry to the Hangar Straight. He must have made it past, too, because on lap four the Brazilian was placed 12th again – superb stuff ! Frentzen had also made progess, moving up to 16th.
Rain started again on lap seven, as Bernoldi progressed to tenth and Frentzen 14th ! What a race for the Arrows team !
On lap 12 Orange Arrows looked to be getting ready for a pit stop as the rain was falling a lot more heavily. By lap 14 both Arrrows had made a stop for intermediate tyres, promoting Heinz-Harald to ninth. Unfortunately Enrique had lost out and dropped to 13th. On lap 15 Enrique could be seen having a terrific scrap with a BAR and a Jordan and Heinz-Harald seemed to like the wet conditions better and had progressed to eighth.
On lap 18 Frentzen made it past Jenson Button’s Renault to progress to seventh. On the next lap Frentzen closed up dramatically on the back of a struggling Williams piloted by Ralf Schumacher, but then slowed dramatically at Bridge corner with smoke pouring out of the back of his A23. After a superb fight, aided by the superior Bridgestone tyres, Heinz-Harald Frentzen retired from the British Grand Prix with a blown Cosworth engine. The TV coverage showed the Arrows team mechanics all gathered around a monitor shaking their heads with disappointment – and I felt exactly the same :o(
Meanwhile Enrique Bernoldi had progressed to ninth, with a superb scrap between Panis and Coulthard behind him. On lap 24 the TV commentary indicated that the track was starting to dry out, prompting McLaren to stop both it’s drivers to swop to dry tyres. Two laps later Enrique Bernoldi did the same thing, the team gambling that the track would come to them, and he rejoined in 11th position. The team obviously decided that this was a bad idea, and brought Bernoldi in again, presumably for intermediate tyres once more. It all became academic around lap 31 as the TV coverage showed Enrique pulling off the circuit to coast to a halt.
This was a very sad end to a very difficult weekend for the team, especially as Frentzen had a superb chance of scoring points for the team, and as Bernoldi was running so strongly at the start of the race. This site really hopes that the money is found for the team to continue the season, because they deserves points on pure effort and the determination to continue.
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